Vorsorgeprinzip: Planning for an Uncertain Future

“He put the question to me explicitly- ‘the time is coming when something must be done. I would like to have a hand in it, but I can only do so if you join in too,” and I said, ‘Yes, it’s worth it.”
 -Freya von Moltke

Vorsorgeprinzip

At SEHN we work on the precipice of uncertainty; protecting a livable future amongst the unknown. Now, more than ever, we feel the weight of this responsibility for future generations as we live through one of the greatest unknowns in modern times. SARS-CoV-2, the novel coronavirus, has shone a brutal spotlight on injustice, inequality, unpreparedness, ignorance, the fragility of a growth-obsessed economy, and the necessity for our government to act in the interest of public health.

Studies of human psychology provide overwhelming evidence of widespread feelings of helplessness in a crisis. Aside from our collective anxiety, we feel helpless; we have no control over the situation and many of us, the non-essential workers, feel as though we can’t do anything to help. In fact, the most help we can be right now is to do nothing at all; to stay home and out of the way.

But we aren’t helpless, there’s a lot we can do right now to prevent future suffering and harm. It seems overwhelming, to plan for a future amid complete chaos, but we won’t be the first to have done it.

In the 1940s a group of men and women of different backgrounds, religions, and political leanings gathered together at the estate of Count Helmuth and Freya von Moltke and planned for the future of Germany, for the time after Hitler and the Nazi regime were removed from power. They were planning for a brighter, better future while still living through the atrocities of Hitler and the Third Reich. The members of this clandestine “think tank”, the Kreisau Circle, discussed academics, politics, history, literature, human connection, the role of government, and what good governance could look like.

The von Moltkes and the Kreisau Circle knew hard times, had to wait through hard times, but they were not idle. They wisely drafted plans for what needed to take place after Hitler was removed from power; they were prepared for a transition that would benefit all Germans and through their waiting, drafting, and planning for an uncertain future- they figured out what role their government needed to fulfill to best serve its people.

Sitting and waiting is what we are doing across the globe- waiting in quarantine for the virus to move through our population, waiting for our government to serve in our best interests. Whether we are waiting in fear, boredom, of relative comfort and ease—we are all stuck for an undetermined amount of time; but we needn’t be idle. Those of us who are not healthcare workers, who are not on the frontlines battling this virus, still have an opportunity to help. We are preparing for an uncertain future in the wake of a global pandemic and the abject failures of our government. We are drafting and planning for a transition; for what our government should look like moving forward; charging our government to uphold the public trust doctrine to protect our commonwealth and public health.

To become an active voice in this planning, please join SEHN’s working group on Facebook: Government for the Commons, Future Generations, and Justice. This is a laboratory for democracy. A forum for debate and conversation about the role of government. We challenge the outdated notion that the primary responsibility of government is to grow the economy. We explore the centrality of the commons and the fiduciary duty of government to care for the commonwealth and public health for present and future generations. We seek justice for the Earth, the disenfranchised, the voiceless. We are planning for what our democracy will look like after the pandemic of the virus and this current administration.

“What will we need to work together in a democracy in such a way that we have justice, that we have equality and equity? What will we need? -Carolyn Raffensperger